Now Accepting Submissions for Two Upcoming Works

The Weidner Institute is now accepting submissions for two upcoming volumes in our Theological Essays series. The third and fourth volumes, to be released in the latter half of 2021, are on the following subjects: Predestination and Providence, and The Essence and Attributes of God. Proposals should be around 500 words in length, and must include an overview of the purpose and general argument of your proposed article. They should be sent to [email protected], and will be reviewed by the series editors for consideration. Along with your proposal, please also include a sample of your writing, along with information about your titles/positions, and names of some of the sources you anticipate using in your essay.

A PhD, or a research Masters degree, is preferred for those submitting articles, but these are not required. The authors of the submitted essays are also not required to be Lutheran by confession, but the content of your article must be consistent with the Lutheran commitments of Just and Sinner. If you are not Lutheran, we would prefer that you would at least use some Lutheran sources in the content of your paper.

More information about these specific volumes:

Predestination and Providence
This book covers the doctrine of election as outlined in the Formula of Concord, which steers a middle path between strict double-predestinarianism and synergism. The following subjects are already covered:
- A history of the intuitu fidei controversy in American Lutheranism
- The development of Semi-Augustinianism in response to the Semipelagian controversy
-Adolf Hoenecke and Francis Pieper on Divine Providence
As each volume contains eight essays, we have five spots which remain available.

Some areas we are interested in on this topic:
-Comparative studies of the Lutheran doctrine of election and other approaches arising from the Reformation and Counter-Reformation
-Exegetical arguments in defense of universal grace
-Comparison between the Lutheran confession and medieval approaches (Aquinas, Lombard, etc.)
-Practical discussions of predestination and its application in pastoral ministry
-Critiques of contemporary formulations of election which differ from the confessional approach

The Essence and Attributes of God
This book will cover the tenets of Classical Christian Theism. We are especially interested in these four topics which have been highly debated throughout recent controversies: simplicity, immutability, impassibility, and atemporality. We desire engagement with, and responses to, influential thinkers who have rejected these classical distinctives (Barth, Jenson, Pannenberg, Moltmann, etc.).

We would like to address some of the following areas:
-Classical Theism in Patristic thought
-Medieval conceptions of Classical Theism and their adoption by heirs of the Reformation
-The Lutheran Confessions on the divine attributes
-Exegetical defenses of simplicity, impassibility, immutability, and atemporality
-Lutheran scholastic formations of the divine essence and attributes
-A response to Barth and the twentieth-century shift into actualist ontologies
-The reception of Platonic and/or Aristotelian philosophies in the formation of Christian Theistic language
-A discussion of univocity and analogical predication

We are open to other areas in the field as well. 
Essays focusing on Trinitarian theology in particular will be published in a future volume.